Silicon Valley Beer Week is July 28 through Aug. 3

(photo courtesy Nicholas Gingold/2012)
Dan Gordon, left, with Head Brewer Justin Boehle, will be kicking off Silicon Valley Beer Week, from July 28-August 3, at the Gordon Biersch Brewing Company at 357 E. Taylor Street in San Jose, near Japantown. Gordon, an accomplished jazz trombonist and Homestead High graduate, is also celebrating the 25th anniversary of his company.

The Downtown Campbell Beer Walk is just one of a series of events taking place between July 28 and Aug. 3 as Silicon Valley celebrates Beer Week.

The Campbell event takes place July 31 from 6 to 9 p.m. in downtown Campbell. Participants are invited to stroll the streets of downtown Campbell while visiting local businesses and enjoying 20 different beer tastings.

The official kickoff for Silicon Valley Beer Week takes place at the brewing facility of popular local beer Gordon Biersch.

Dan Gordon, co-founder of Gordon Biersch is a San Jose native, who is proud but humble when asked about his local and national success.

Gordon personally supervises the 114,000-square-foot brewing and bottling facility in downtown San Jose.

After 20-plus years in the industry, his approach to beer making remains inspired by a trip to Austria and Germany with his parents.

"That's where I was exposed to that 'quality over quantity' mentality," Gordon said. "I later moved out there for an exchange student program and both of my neighbors had breweries, which just reinforced that exposure to good beer."

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Gordon was the first American in 40 years to graduate from the five-year brewing program at the world-renowned Technical University of Munich in West Germany. He went on to intern with Spaten Brewery in Munich and Anheuser-Busch before returning to California, where fate brought him together with Dean Biersch.

"The amount of science involved in brewing beer was always incredible to me," said Gordon, who graduated from Homestead High School. He credits the school's strong academic focus for helping him ease into the science of brewing beer. "The math and physics really helped out quite a bit with exposing me to math and physics at a level that made everything about engineering a lot easier," Gordon said.

"And there's the fact that it's something tangible; here you're applying all of this engineering and science to get an amazing product. When I met Dean, we combined our forces and seven months after meeting we opened our Palo Alto location."

The two opened the first Gordon Biersch in Palo Alto in 1988.

"We were very fortunate to have a line around the block when we first opened up downtown San Jose," Gordon said of their second location. "I'm really happy to keep everything local, too; even though beer is grown around the country, this area is still it for me."

Which is why he was happy to oblige when he was approached to host the kickoff event for Silicon Valley Beer Week beginning July 28 and running through Aug. 3.

The kickoff party will be at the Gordon Biersch Brewery at 357 E. Taylor St. in Japantown in San Jose and will feature 10-15 booths serving special pairings of craft beer and single-bite food items prepared by Silicon Valley restaurateurs, brewers and culinary entrepreneurs. During the event there will also be tours of the brewery and bottling plant. Tickets for the kickoff party are $40 and are very limited.

"It's going to be a taste-bud extravaganza," Gordon said of the event. "It's an authentic way to experience beer tasting by holding it at the brewery. And there is going to be something every single night the rest of the week."

Participating Silicon Valley restaurants will host special events and feature special pricing during the course of the week.

Silicon Valley Beer Week will end with the Summer KraftBrew Fest 2013, an open-air festival on Post Street in downtown San Jose. This year's festivities feature more than 45 American craft, Belgian and German imports; a home brewers competition; handcrafted root beer and soda tent and a beer launch booth releasing a special or unique brew for tasting every hour.

For 16 years, the Silicon Valley Sudzers, members of the American Homebrewers Association, have been crafting their own creations locally and will be sharing some of their tasty creations during the festival.

Member Derek Wolfgram said the group will host a brewing demonstration at the festival, brewing up a batch of what he's calling granola stout--an oatmeal honey milk stout with cinnamon and toasted coconut.

"It's exciting that the South Bay craft beer scene has come into its own in the last couple of years, with excellent new breweries and craft beer bars that are doing very well," Wolfgram said. "Last time I checked, there were about 100 Silicon Valley Beer Week events listed in a five-day time period, and more are being added every day. It's a great tribute to the people who have invested in creating all of these excellent local products and establishments."

Wolfgram added that it is encouraging to see the Silicon Valley "DIY" ethos represented in the Beer Week events.

"Many successful craft breweries started with a couple guys in a garage playing around with a new idea, which is a familiar story in the tech world as well," Wolfgram said. "In addition to tap takeovers and beer pairing dinners with local breweries, there are events that include a lot of educational elements, with lectures, demos, trivia contests and conversations with brewers and other local experts about beer and brewing. That spirit of having fun and learning at the same time drives a lot of the innovation that makes Silicon Valley, Silicon Valley."

Summer KraftBrew Fest 2013 general admission tickets are $10 each, and exclusive access zythophile or Z-pass tickets are $50. The Z-pass gives people early access to the Summer KraftBrew Fest and comes with a tote, signature glass and 40 KraftBrew food and beverage tickets.